Marquesa

Let them become independent and survive without Federal and State handouts. Hilarity will ensue.

No one will want to go out once the Government tells us there are Lizard people about.

I'd hope we'd use the laws suppporting the freedom of navigation to sail the Taiwan straight to see just how serious they are. If they attack, then all hell breaks loose. If they don't - then the blockade is finished.

Priest believe in Catholicism. There is a difference.

I asked Grok to use 2024 as a baseline and give me the annual increase in AI compute for the next 10 years. There are caveats - natural restraints to growth such as available power, raw materials etc - but it's possible that through AI these constraints can be solved. Even if theses constraints slow the growth - the concept of half of this compute being available is mind bending. I don't think we're ready for the world this will bring...

Worldwide AI compute (primarily the stock of AI accelerators like GPUs/TPUs in H100-equivalents or equivalent FLOPs capacity) has grown extremely rapidly, at roughly 3.3–3.4× per year recently (doubling every ~7 months), according to Epoch AI data through 2025.
This measures the total deployed/installed base of AI-optimized hardware capacity worldwide, which best represents "compute power devoted to artificial intelligence." It includes both training and inference. Frontier training compute for the largest models has grown even faster historically (~4–5× per year), but the overall stock is the more relevant aggregate metric.
Projections (2025–2034, with 2024 as baseline = 1×)
These are illustrative projections based on continuing the recent ~3.3–3.4× annual growth rate from Epoch AI. Actual growth will likely vary and could slow due to power constraints, chip production limits, energy infrastructure, costs, and efficiency gains (though demand from inference and new models is expected to keep pressure high).
Many analyses project continued strong (though possibly decelerating) growth through 2030, with AI data center power demand and capacity potentially rising 5–10×+ in that period under high scenarios. I use a rounded 3.3× annual multiplier here for simplicity and consistency with recent empirical trends:

2024: 1× (baseline)
2025: ~3.3×
2026: ~11×
2027: ~36×
2028: ~119×
2029: ~393×
2030: ~1,300×
2031: ~4,300×
2032: ~14,000×
2033: ~46,000×
2034: ~152,000×

Cumulative growth to 2034 would be on the order of 100,000–200,000× under sustained exponential trends, though real-world physics (power, chips, data centers) will introduce bottlenecks and likely cause the rate to moderate, especially post-2030.

You'd think security camers would have better resolution by now.

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This is at least a different spin on the "gotta have it so we can get mineral rights" debate that doesn't hold water.

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That's the least analytical response anyone could have hoped for.

The war in Ukraine brought forward how important small drones are on the modern battlefield. The US has the best conventional miliatary in the world, but we are often stymied by assymetric warfare. Iran is playing the same gme wtih speedboats, drones, mini subs and mines to keep the strats of hormuz closed. We have DARPA that does nothing but work on innovative ways to overcome our enemies. I think with these types of resources we should be able to develop and overcome most assymetric challenges. I don't have the answers, and if I did I'd want DARPA's funding in compensation. But couldn't we take out these speed boats easily through multiple methods. Why not have a low cost barge like ship that carried drones into the shipping lanes. It could autonomously launch, recover and recharge drones without putting any human life in danger. Sensor drones to find the fast boats and other military targets and armed drones to take them out. Alterntively, we used to have PT boats - certainly we have a drone version of PT Boats that could fight them toe to toe. Again, just spitballing here, but I don't think we should be held hostage by this near failed country. What do you guys think?

Frankly, I didn't folllow the logic at the link. WTF?

Don't lose the perspective of a Nuclear Armed Iran. There is a price to pay for avoiding the end of the world. Adding a buck or more to the cost of a gallon of gas for a few months is well worth it. Perspective people, perspective. One more thing. Democrats are evil.

Left the Strait of Hormuz for Europe and Asia to figure out. What sort of economic and political fallout would be expected?